Expecting to Fly - The Bluetones

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Expecting to Fly,  the debut studio album by The Bluetones has to be one of my favourite albums of the 90s, from the resplendent peacock on the album's cover, and the initial sound on side A: the fading drone of a distant jet engine, through to the last jangling chords of Time & Again on side B. I loved it then and still love it now. 

The album was released on 12 February 1996, knocking Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory off the number-one spot in the UK Albums Chart,  for a week anyway.. 
It sold 82,000 copies in its first week, following on from the success of three singles, "Bluetonic", "Slight Return" and "Cut Some Rug".
The album was certified platinum by the BPI in March 1998 for sales of 300,000.

Mark Morriss spoke to the XS noize podcast about the album for its 25th anniversary in 2021:
"It was all very surreal,  we didn't anticipate the success that a slight return would foreshadow. It felt like it was all going to end in a flash. It all happened so quickly, so we thought it was all going away quickly too.
We were pleased and nervous about it, because it suddenly propelled us into a level of attention that we weren't necessarily ready for, we were all very young. I was 24, and not a very mature 24."
"What I remember about that time us having all our friends around us, because we were keen to share as much of this good time as possible while it lasted. Which is strange now 25 years later talking about it, and we're still touring."

They are still currently touring, and long may it continue for such a hardworking yet modest band. 

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